In less than 48 hours, I’ll be Tokyo-bound. But between now and then, I’ve got A LOT to do. Still, there’s always time for a blog update…
Yesterday, we gave and received notes on three outlines: Episode 1 (Paul’s story, which will shoot second), Episode 3 (my story, which will shoot fourth), and Episode 4 (Carl’s story, which will shoot first). Rob will probably send me his outline (episode 2, shooting third) while I’m in Japan, presuming I’ll have time to read it and email my thoughts between my visit to Ice Cream City for the unagi-vanilla and an afternoon coffee at one of those cafes where the waitresses dress up like maids. As for Brad’s outline – Outline? He don’t need no stinking outline!
Anyway, I made a point of carefully writing down everyone’s suggestions on the hard copy of my outline and, once our meeting was concluded, packed up and headed home. Well, packed up everything EXCEPT the hard copy of my outline with the notes. So, I phoned up Birthday Boy Lawren, had him track down the outline (I’d forgotten it in Ashleigh’s office), and instructed him to give it to Carl who I was meeting for dinner that night.
Yes, last night, Rob, Carl, and I got together for one final pre-Tokyo culinary blow-out. We went to Quattro, home of Carl’s favorite pasta dish in the world. That’s right, Carl is a fan of fettucine tartufati, USC, and our very own blog regular PG-15. Anyway, despite the fact that I almost forgot the outline at the restaurant, it was a great evening all around, made even greater by the fact that Carl picked up the bill.
By the way, to all those wondering about SGU’s ratings – while the same day numbers have downticked somewhat, the DVR percentages continue to rise. What does that mean? Well, we’ve retained all of our audience from the premiere – which is pretty damn impressive.
The kindle is finally available in Canada. If I’d known a few days earlier, I actually would have purchased one for my Tokyo trip.
To answer a few questions (something surprisingly difficult to do given that I’m writing this blog entry on dial-up and I’m apparently incapable of opening a second window)…
Shadow Step writes: @Alex – Anyone with a sane mind would like this SGU show: “Not if they wanted science fiction.”
Answer: True. They did the body-swapping/advanced race tech thing in last week’s Grey’s Anatomy as well.
Klemen writes: “…are we going to meet some sentient alien beings in season 1?”
Answer: Yes, but you’ll have to wait until after the mid-season hiatus. But not long after the mid-season hiatus.
Alex writes: “Is it me or all the people who is posting here (except me of course) are dumbed down.”
Answer: Nope, it’s definitely not you. In fact, I would say the exact opposite to be true.
Alex also writes: “syfy lack good scifi series, I have to stay with V and fringe as of now.”
Answer: Well, you’ll be missed. Really.
Mondschaf writes: “He (Rush) would gain an imense knowledge of the ancients by using it, knowledge about Destiny and perhaps even ascension.”
Answer: Or die trying. In his mind, he’s too valuable to risk. And he has a point.
Aaron writes: “Has any of the feedback from fans and other reviews been taken into account while you’ve been spinning season 2?”
Answer: Which ones? The positive feedback from fans and reviewers who are enjoying the show or the negative feedback from fans and reviewers who find it wanting? We’re aware of both.
Belouchi writes: “I was wondering why the networks wont show the eppy Space before the mid season break?”
Answer: SyFy breaks up the season at its halfway mark. As a result, they air the first ten episodes early, and the last ten episodes late. Space is episode 11, so it belongs in the back ten.
Parks writes: “Then on the “Life” episode, producers decided to be all “cutting edge” ala 2006 with the lesbian kiss.”
Answer: I know, I know. Being a lesbian is SOOO 2006. Still, rumor has it there are a handful or so still kicking around, occasionally kissing their partners. No official reported sightings, mind you, but still. Also, your notion that the kiss is in any way controversial displays a mindset more attuned with 1986.
Today’s entry is dedicated to Angelus and Angelus’s dad.
life is the worst episode you guys ever did… i’m sorry, but i’m so disgusted that i cant even think something more to say here… i neither have strength to show my rage anymore… this episode is the deep place of the franchise.. i just say… I BEG YOU, BRING ATLANTIS BACK…
Have fun in Tokyo. Japan is on my big five list of countries I simply must go, for all the amazing culture and historic value. And the crazy bits of modern culture, too.
The rest are Ireland, Scotland, England (hm…) and Canada. Ireland for the history and my heritage there, Scotland and England mainly for the captivating histories of their own, and Canada because I want to work there. And I guess it’s nice there, too. 😛
I hope you have a wonderful time in Tokyo, and don’t get too stressed out getting ready to go. Packing is my least favorite thing to do.
***Spoilers***
I really liked “Life”, lots of nice twists. I’m really surprised that Young confronted Rush about the Icarus planet lie, and that Rush admitted it. I must admit, I didn’t have a clue that it wasn’t Volker at the end – until he decked Telford. Hahaha.
But, I do have a question about “Time”. I know, I always miss the mailbag…. I’ve only watched the episode once, but my working through it came up with this theory: So, they visit the planet, find the old kino and watch the video, coming up with some clues to help cure the sickness from the ice planet. A few of them go back to the jungle planet to get samples of the creature, but are unsuccessful and Scott records a second kino, sending it through the gate to Destiny. I figure that must have happened during another solar flare, being received before they go to the planet and find the first kino. This warns them about the sickness, so that the events from the first and second kino recordings never happen and the sickness is cured? Or, is it that the sickness never happens if they don’t go to the planet?
Oy, this is worse than Moebius. I still have a question about the ending of that one, but that’s another day. If you can help out here with an explanation, I’d appreciate it. I’ll watch Time again, too, that may help. Or not. Have seen Moebius multiple times 😉
Oh, and how long will you be in Tokyo? Christmas is coming…. and I am making candy….
Lisa
Have a safe trip, and a wonderful culinary adventure.
@josephmallozzi
You posted:
“Aaron writes: “Has any of the feedback from fans and other reviews been taken into account while you’ve been spinning season 2?”
Answer: Which ones? The positive feedback from fans and reviewers who are enjoying the show or the negative feedback from fans and reviewers who find it wanting? We’re aware of both.”
The most interesting way to answer this question is from the point of view that a stargate fan would have. After about 15 years that would mostly refer to the “traditional” stargate fan. Some time ago you guys made the following specials:
Stargate SG-1: Behind The Mythology Of Stargate
Stargate SG-1: The Lowdown
Stargate SG-1: True Science
All of them describe what made stargate so great. As a “traditional” stargate fan I can’t recognize any of this in SGU. So the real question is: Will you take any input into account, that will lead to a point where SGU will become what stargate once was (science, exploration, discovery…)?
No matter what any angry stargate fan will write there is one thing I would like to point out. As much as I personally may dislike the current pace of the show, the actors perform great. It seams the entire world needed to be reminded that there is a difference between a character on screen and the real life person. This is a testimony to their performance. In that sense I would like to pass on my congratulations on a job well done under extraordinary circumstances.
I soooo wish that I could like this show… But we are almost mid season and my hope is have gone.
Anyway, have fun in Tokyo. Nihon wa honto ni sugoi desu!
I will have to say I was not a big fan of the show at first but now after watching the episodes back to back (in a silent environment) I am now hooked, I guess the sex deprived people may find the “sex” scenes shocking; but we all know in real life it isnt like that. 🙂 I now find myself liking Lt Scott and I have been a Ming Na fan since ER days. Reiko Aylesworth I hope we see more of her. She went to highschool in my hometown. I am now officially addicted and a fan. I believe this show retains the original quirkiness but filmed in a different perspective and I love it! I have no doubt this series will go on for years to come.
Have fun in Tokyo – I dont comment much because the haters out there seem to have nothing better to do but bash each other.
Awww…Carl’s not a fan of me. 🙁 (I wonder why… 😛 )
Have a good evening, sir – it’s been a big day for me, and just got back from dinner and an Emile Pandolfi concert – http://www.emilepandolfi.com/ He plays beautifully, but my favorite piece he does is Malagueña – just amazing how he makes the piano sound like a Flamenco guitar.
So…I’m pooped. Hope the next couple of days go smoothly for you, and you get off on your trip without a hitch.
das
Sorry to ask a fanboy question, but this seems to be the place to do it.
Is Rush more or less of an authority on Ancient than characters from earlier series? I haven’t watched them, so I don’t have an opinion. SGU seems to be implying that no one in the universe has a better chance of keeping Destiny flying than he does, is that an accurate impression?
Enjoy your trip and we know you will wow us some more for season 2 (yes I have absolute faith you will be back).
Let us know how the trip goes and when you get your tech issues settled we all want more pics.
Happy Birthday Lawren!!!
So I’ve purposely been avoiding forums and comment areas in regard to SGU. I’m one of those crazy people that want to form their own ideas about stuff. Saying that in reference to Life, Bravo.
I was very anxious as to how the lesbian subject would be shown. Most of the time when you see such a thing on a show it’s “hey look at the lesbians”, which I find very offensive. In the Life however I saw two people, who happened to both be women, in love. Ming-Na did a wonderful job.
And Telford is quickly become my favorite person to love to hate.
Hey Joe,
Why is there a two week gap before “Justice”?
In my experience, people have a short attention span when it comes to things like this. A sort of “Oh, is SGU back on? I missed it. Did you see V though?”…that kind of thing. It’s hard to explain but it’s happened, especially if the show on hiatus is not properly marketed/advertised by the network.
Do you worry about a ratings drop-off at the second half of the season? I would.
Cheers,
-J
Hi Joe, have a wonderful and safe trip, looking forward to hearing of your culinary adventures!
Have a great trip. We expect updates as you go along eating your way through Tokyo. Any duplicate restaurants from the last trip?
I’m glad they’re counting the DVR ratings. It’s so difficult to watch the show live. I do have to say I’m glad you’re not taking the SG-1 route. I love it that it’s a different show, different take on the universe. You’ll get season two, with flying colors.
@sfHeath
You wrote:”Is Rush more or less of an authority on Ancient than characters from earlier series? I haven’t watched them, so I don’t have an opinion. SGU seems to be implying that no one in the universe has a better chance of keeping Destiny flying than he does, is that an accurate impression?”
If I may try to answer this. Daniel Jackson (SG-1) ascended himself witch pretty much makes him the foremost authority over all. Dr. Weir (SGA) studied them extensively on atlantis. I would say all of the atlantis crew is more qualified since their purpose was to study the Ancients and they were on an ancient base. Sheppard (SGA) lived with Ancients for a while and once (or twice 🙂 ) had a fling with an ascended girl. That makes Rush less of an authority. Having said that, we did not see much of Rush’s past. So it depends mostly on what will be shown in the future. When it comes to technology, Rodney McKay (mostly SGA but also SG-1) and Samantha Carter (mostly SG-1 but also SGA) are well known as the most qualified people in the universe. It’s just that Rush happens to be on board the Destiny. So, there is no better choice amonst the SGU crew. I guess that is why he wants so desperately to be there. It is his chance to learn as much as either Rodney or Sam, which would put him in a positon with more power.
Hey Joe,
It is so fun to read about the new episodes. I like knowing which writer is doing which. Great team. My favorite is CARL and you of course.
Japan…all that wonderful food. I hope your phone (or camera) is ready to snap tons of show-n-tell pictures…menus too please.
This is so fun…getting excited for you.
Best to you Joe,
Cheryl 🙂
@Lordshake. So what is so bad about the latest episode? If you’re going to say it’s bad, it would be useful to explain why you feel that way. And however much I wish it would happen, unless Bill Gates leaves myself or another Atlantis fan his entire fortune so we can buy out MGM, I don’t see Atlantis returning as anything but a series of movies.
Thanks for taking the time to suffer through dial-up connections to post, and for even managing a mail bag. Hope you have a fanatastic and enjoyable trip, though a small, evil side of me would enjoy you having some (minor) frustrations and trials just so that you can report them to us in your own inestimable way. (pauses for long breath).
As a point of order, the whole lesbian controversy is more 1990s than 1980s. Both Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine had episodes in which regular characters had lesbian relationships, including a controversial kiss. I am finding the handling of Wray’s sexuality is being handled very well in Universe. But I don’t watch sci fi shows or Stargate for the sexual escapades of the characters. (Ok, if you were to do a Sheppard/Teyla set of shows, I’d be glued) But sex is a part of human nature, and I can live with it as part of the overall show. Though for the sake of those who have smaller children advance warnings might be nice for the more explicit scenes.
Anyways, again, thanks for managing to post and a safe trip to the Land of the Rising Sun.
could you answer my question please? Joe, will be in first season any alien !civilization!?
Joe, could you please ask Carl if he’d be interested in starting up a Vancouver chapter of the USC Alumni Association with me? (I was CNTV Class of ’94.) USC currently bundles the “The Northwest” together under the Seattle chapter, and those deadbeats in Seattle never seem to do anything. They don’t even have a decent website. There have to be more Trojans in Vancouver than just Carl and me.
Apropos of Stargate this n that:
Peter Williams’ blog
http://ackeeloverchronicles.blogspot.com/2009/11/unburnable-one-readers-appreciation.html?showComment=1258874691126_AIe9_BGRSwAxGmKWNLTkbVln12v14EbHmhJ_c9n0laiNOFJBrKkdT6o0gRVkmjtEP2Rkn4n3kL11rB5PNLcacPiAk1knqMAV0FwFM5SvpCrCHMvDBT723zr8kx8MCMYFlJyUpqb6CyNwVU7SkP-YM6m7RHIfRzBu08dA9_6u_GmVGQQuo_0MU5FM2fYDmFK-JnJTmA45zjXEtwxUW_bviC3TZS3nXNG1iv4rEZVdU47XmLSpqGI5YMK5BBX2mbB09e7fWEBEh1Ao#c1772668314578362463
Okay, I’m gonna be brief with my opinion of this latest SGU ep. To me, it was super, super boring. Just really, incredibly dull. Sorry, but that’s my take. I’ll watch the rest of the season, but if it becomes more like this week’s ep than like the one with the killer alien bugs and alternate timelines, I’m afraid you’ll lose me.
Hey Joe, hope you have a great trip. Would especially love to see pics of culinary delicacies that are trying to avoid your chopsticks. But I realize that may not be possible: c) you have to carefully manipulate cam & sticks at same time; b) you have to avoid sending said delicacy into hiding; and, of course, a) the event actually has to happen. (For me, AU was definitely involved; and yes, that was some years ago.)
Please be careful where you aim your camera when you’re at the ice-cream place where the waitresses dress as maids. (Don’t know if the costumes are demure or fanservice-y, and don’t really want to speculate. . . . It’s not like you’ll be doing kino, or anything. — Or — well, never mind.)
I enjoyed Life very much. I continue to be impressed with how so very many things are done so very well. Doubtless, there’s much of which I remain unaware that adds to my total happiness with this show. Usually, only really good big-screen productions motivate me so much to want to know everything that goes on during the creation of the whole. — Plain and simple, SGU is a great show.
Why get a Kindle. Surely you have enough space on your iPhone for a couple of hundred?
There must be a book app out there you can use, ask Gilder.
(Sorry, I’m a Windows Mobile Chick and Mobipocket won’t work for you)
Don’t forget Google Maps, and enjoy the trip!!
Joe i must have missed how they came to the conclusion that the chair was an Ancient Repository of Knowledge? I would have assumed it was an Ancient Control Chair….or am I thinking too far ahead?
i hope that on japan you may get inspired by the anime and tokusatsus series to put some good action/adventure elements on stargate universe (still thinking that you should step down and back with atlantis or do a new show on the roots), deal with the characters development without make the things dramatic and boring (ok you guys know how do that, you did everything fine on sg-1, dont know why to change and fail on sgu, but if you want new ways, try learn new ways with them, or use your old and good ways), i’m a fan from japanese culture and import a lot of things from japan, try take a look on how they use the music on the shows, how they show new things with that magic feel, try watch tv asahi at sunday morning… try visit toei company to get some inspiration… and give some inspiration to them also, they are very repeated, i even quit watching their shows for the last months (to watch stargate sg-1 and sga btw), would be nice a exchange of styles between two things i love, i even dreamed with nonsense crossovers between stargate atlantis and super sentai series LMAO…
i will save money to pay you folks for bring atlantis back just for me… how much it costs? xD lol i want at least more 5 seasons… all episodes like the season finale and premiere ones… and don’t listen who liked sgu, they are shol’va, they dont deserve anything… let them watch those boring dramas… (i HATE drama, i already told you that?)… btw, when stargate worlds will be released as final release? and where is the other races there? i want the wraith, (i will play as goa’uld anyway, i love them), and please make a stargate game for nintendo ds based on wars strategies with the maps of the galaxies, and the domains, try do it as paradox game styles, like eu3, but for ds, i’m starting to get bored of pokemon heart gold and soul silver, and i want an stargate game on my ds, so do what i said, i’m your god!
Hey Joe,
Have you heard of Google Wave? A lot of people have been wishing you were on it and might join in some of the conversations about the show, or anything else, I’m sure.
If you’re interested, just send me an email.
Wishing you well, and hoping you’re interested,
Spencer
Coucou Joseph!
éhéhé oui bientôt Tokyo, là vous aurez une journée d’avance sur moi 🙂
Merci bien pour ces Q/A 🙂
Moi j’ai une autre question:
Quand sera t’on si sgu continuera pour une seconde saison?
Bonne journée!
Gros Bisou!!!
Speaking of last week’s Gray’s Anatomy…. HELLO COL. CALDWELL! (A.k.a. Skinner for us X-files fans too).
If they think I don’t remember him from the season 1 or so episode where he was a dude with a PENISFISH up his urethra, dude they’re wrong!
Oh, and Gray’s Anatomy did do something like a bodyswap once. Girl got into a car crash, lost all memory and they had to re-construct her face without knowing what it looked like first. They tried to make an educated guess but they guessed wrong as it turned out when her family found her.
btw, are you learning japanese right? try understand it, i know a little bit…
what a goa’uld would say on japanese>
俺様は世界と宇宙の究極神様だ!
…
an simple text (i dont know to much to speak freely, and it may contain errors)>
お早うマロジさん! どうぞ宜しくお願いします!
俺様の非難ごめん。。。
大丈夫か?
だから、スターゲートアトランチス本当の大好きだ!
この新しいのシリーズは辛気臭い。。。
アトランチスの返せ!お願い!
俺が絶対に諦めない!アトランチスの守る!
あああ。。。御前の犬は可愛いだようねえええ。。。
行ってらしゃい。。。
and i used daijoubuka instead of ogenkidesuka because i like it… and my preferences are sacred…
Hello JM.
I admire you, for confronting yourself with the opinions of the SGU audience in this way. I think it takes a thick skin in order to handle all the bad reviews.
Have you earned so much criticism for the other Stargates too? I don’t think so.
SGU is IMHO the worst Stargate ever. Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t have any problem whatsoever with the sex scenes. They are the least problem of the show if any. 😉
SGU should have found the right balance between character stories, adventure, action and sci-fi from the beginning. Where SG1 and SGA lacked character stories SGU has too much of it at the cost of rest (adventure, et al…).
With 9 episodes so far I liked three of those at least a little. The rest was absolutely boring for me (lead by “Earth” and “Life”)
I’m afraid that one of the biggest problems SGU has is that there are too many characters to look at. Same problem as in Heroes, which is also a very boring series. Only LOST finally found it’s way with the fourth season. A little late I think.
I sincerely hope that SGU will find a better way this season. Everything else might be too late. But then again… it’s only my opinion. There is no right or wrong here. There is only the question if the producers will serve the majority of fans or not. Only the ratings can teach us that.
This episode was another disappointment, it started out well with the discovery of the chair … and then failed miserably when they didn’t even use it and more or less ignored it for the whole episode.
To me, as a science-fiction fan all that drama stuff is /filler/ material, the glue that holds the story together. It’s not supposed to be 99% filler and 1% story.
Hi Joe,
I didn’t find Life quite as exciting as other episodes but it was still good as it told us plenty about the characters and moved the ‘getting home’ plot around a bit with Rush’s machinations 😀 I understand that it would get stale if you blew stuff up in every episode.
I rather liked Young’s could-be-a-psych-eval non-conversation, and also TJ’s reactions to Chloe’s happiness. Interesting to see another side of Park too.
@ Juralas
Rumour has it the skipped week is because of some holiday called Thanksgiving, but I wouldn’t know anything about that.
“Answer: Or die trying. In his mind, he’s too valuable to risk. And he has a point.”
It’s not that I can’t see that point but… I just imagined him to act “more passionate” about the chair, to the point of leaving caution behind.
But even if it more or less turns out the same way I can stand a selfish “I’m too important to die” better than a selfish and coward “uh, nooooo, I’m too scared to do that” even though the first option might be just disguised cowardice.
Thanks for your answer ^^
Still, I don’t think Rush is that valuable for the ship’s understanding – Eli seems to catch up pretty fast understanding the technology and found the fake information quickly (unless Rush meant it as a test for Eli and made the fake information easy to find as someone mentioned).
Rush won’t agree with me but if Eli didn’t have to spend most of his time as a spy he might be able to prove himself more valuable than Rush on the technology level.
The “giving-Young-contra”(not sure if that term is used in English o.O”) is the more important role of Rush for me. Wray might trouble things for Young in the future as well but Rush’s point of view often is a more unique one – not necessarily the “right” one, yet I think the addition of it is important as he says things other people might be too scared to even think in that direction.
Rush doesn’t care about social etiquette he just says what he’s thinking (in the “not-caring-whether-people-might-be-hurt-by-the-words” way, I don’t mean to say he’s always stating the truth 😉 )
@ moe and
@sfHeath:
even if this might be a contradiction with the upper paragraph stating that Eli might grow to better understand the Destiny technology than Rush I do see him as the one with best chances to keep Destiny flying (at least at the moment)
Daniel Jackson and Dr. Weir have great knowledge about ancients and maybe even a better understanding of the culture than Rush but they never were the technology people and figuring out technobabble problems wasn’t really their thing (generally at least, there might have been a few episodes where they solved technology issues I’m just not remembering at the moment, but for fixing those problems there were usually other people).
Sheppard is more the action-hero type. As a pilot he might have a better starting point than Jackson or Weir and he has proved to be quite intelligent but he usually left the technology issues to other people and even though he might not be completely clueless when it comes to figuring out codes I hardly see him as the technology expert or equal to Rush who spent a lot of his time only on trying to understand that stuff.
Sam and Rodney are technology experts and they might generally be the better choice than Rush.
But Rush has been researching on Destiny for a long time (even back on Icarus base, I’m not sure he was really aware that it would lead to a ship, but he spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to dial the gate and might have come across some hints, Sam and Rodney would not know), Sam and Rodney would have to catch up on Rush’s special knowledge first (afterwards they might outshine him).
I do indeed see Rush “as THE man for Destiny” but Eli might catch up soon.
Best wishes for your Japan trip, Joe! I’d love to go there as well (and one day I will… once I finished studies and finally earn money -.-“)
Hi Joe,
We are loving SGU! The characters are so real, with their own petty problems, needs and desires and that have an effect on everybody else. We all like to think we would put our own aside and deal with the crisis, but that’s not reality. SGU is closer to how real people would react in a crisis than many other SciFi shows.
I’m SO enjoying the Telford/Young exchanges. (Way to go Young, I knew it was him, too bad Telford didn’t, LOL). The actors are doing an incredible job.
Thanks to everyone for a wonderful first half of the season. We’re so pleased to hear that you are spinning the second season already.
Quick question, when will the second half begin again?
Have a wonderful time in Japan! No wonder you are going as it is now the culinary capital of the world with the highest number of 4 star restaurants. I’m so looking forward to reading your eating exploits. Eat Well!
Don’t forget the battery charger for the trip, for the iphone and whatever else, Would hate for the batteries to die at the moment you are posting the lastest restaurant entry from Tokyo. Looking forward to your musings.
I liked this episode, it just adds more to the ever evolving storyline. so thanks. Great job Carl! glad to see Telford got his due. Looking forward to next week. If some don’t like that this(storyline) takes away from Stargate, just call the series Universe, leave out the stargate, oh wait, that might stir another controversy, hmmm. guess just leave it like it is. I do enjoy watching. Its sooooo 2009/10. thanks.
Have a wonderful and safe trip. We will be reading as you post.
I know this really isn’t the place, but I promised I’d ask. A lot of you know my niece Emma has leukemia, and she’s only got about six weeks left. She adores Taylor Swift, so her parents would like to see if they can arrange for her to meet Taylor. If anybody has an “in” with Taylor, could you let me know? She has totally given up Barney for Taylor, which just goes to show that she has good taste!
Have a safe trip, Joe.
Have a safe and pleasant trip, Joe. I am intensely jealous and homesick. I miss Kamakura most of all. Kampai!
No Stargate this weekend as it is Thanksgiving in the US… no one is going to watch Syfy. Except me, because we aren’t doing Turkey Day this year. Long story, sad, don’t want to get into the pity party thing.
> “They did the body-swapping/advanced race tech thing in last week’s Grey’s Anatomy as well.”
True, ‘they’ did the body-swapping thing in last weeks Stargate, and the week before that and the week before that and the week before that and the week before that and the week before that and the week before that and the week before that and the week before that.
It’s getting real old *real* fast. In fact, I was tired of it after 5 minutes. They’re supposed to be stranded in space, remember ? People who are stranded on the other side of the universe aren’t supposed to visit their parents every 5 minutes.
The sad part is, you could have achieved all the ‘new’ things you wanted in SGU without it being a soap. At the moment, it’s a soap opera that takes place on a spaceship. Adding a spaceship as a backdrop doesn’t make it sci-fi, the current story just as well could have taken place on say… a mysterious uninhabited island after a plane crash.
In sci-fi you have the possibility to look at ordinary things from a unique perspective, which is why I love the genre. Take for example the whole sex thing. There are wonderful opportunities in sci-fi to explore human sexuality, e.g. Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land” does this pretty well, heck, even the movie “Demolition Man” had a better go at exploring human sexuality through sci-fi than SGU.
Another example: the book “Accelerando” by Charles Stross does a very good job of exploring what is means to be human through sci-fi. Same goes for the aforementioned “Stranger in a Strange Land”. (If you haven’t read “Accelerando” yet, do so, it’s absolutely mind-blowing). No such thing in SGU.
All I’m saying is: There are loads of means of making a more ‘serious’ sci-fi series, one more focused on humans and less about villain-of-the-week style action and still be /really/ good sci-fi. Use future technology or aliens as a tool to offer a unique perspective on humanity, use it to expose how alien humanity itself is, make me *think*, damn it. For now, it’s just “Stargate 90210″/ “As the Stargate turns”.
Such a waste of potential.
Joe,
you know theres a kindle app for the Iphone, you dont need no stinking kindle! Lol just a heads up.
“Will you take any input into account, that will lead to a point where SGU will become what stargate once was (science, exploration, discovery…)?”
What Stargate still IS!
Yeah it is different than all other SGs.. but thats supposed to be like that.
Exploring the Destiny and the areas they’re travelling through is not exploration? Exploring planets, searching for food and water is not exploration? Discovering the very Destiny, the Kino, the new Chair.. is not discovery at all? Then… what is exploration? What is discovery? What is sience?
And, BTW, nobody actually forces you to watch SGU.
Heya Joe,
Have a wonderful trip, great food, cool experiences, and just a good time in Japan.
Looking forward to your travelogue postings.
Happy Birthday Lawren.
Thinking of Angelus and Angelus’ dad.
Love the picture on Twitter, too cute!
The character development going on in “Life” seems more like character perversion to me… I start to like a character, and suddenly I hate them as I’m introduced to some serious character flaws. As the series progresses, will some of the characters become a bit more heroic?
While Destiny’s crew consists of the wrong people, who were forced into their situation, I feel that some of them should move past all the stress and negativity. What I liked about the characters from the other Stargate shows is that they made the best of their situations. It’s why I like Eli Wallace, but he seems to be getting more and more out of place!
I’m also a little curious about how desperate the situation on Destiny is—could Atlantis not restock its ZPMs and wormhole-drive its way to Destiny for a pickup? I am under the impression that FTL is much slower than ZPM-powered hyperdrive, so if they were to wormhole-drive their way to the same galaxy, they could catch up with destiny pretty quickly.
Anyway, enjoy Japan! I hope that unagi-vanilla ice cream doesn’t share a similar texture as raw eel—that would be rather… unappetizing.
> “What Stargate still IS!
> Yeah it is different than all other SGs.. but thats supposed to be like that.
>
> Exploring the Destiny and the areas they’re travelling through is not exploration? ”
Have you been watching the same show as I ? Yes, there are some of those elements, for about 10 seconds per episode *total*, de rest of the episodes is drama, drama and more drama.
Have a safe and fun trip! I hope the dog sitter works out for ya.
“By the way, to all those wondering about SGU’s ratings – while the same day numbers have downticked somewhat, the DVR percentages continue to rise. What does that mean?” It means I’ve been busy on Friday nights and haven’t had a chance to watch “Life” yet. I guess, I’m not the only one to wait and watch on the DVR. Best wishes for rising numbers!
Thanks for doing dial-up. When I go see my mom, I suffer through dial-up. It makes me appreciate high band width.
I went laptop shopping this morning. I thought I would look at a Mac but was surprised that our local Best Buy didn’t have any to gander at! Just as well, I would have to do tech support myself if I venture away from a PC.
PG15: I love reading your posts, too!!
Have a nice weekend!
T
I, for one, enjoyed seeing Col. Telford get the Shinola kicked out of him for being such a back-stabbing sneak who’ll do anything to get control of the Destiny (although, I’m kind of disappointed in the character, as I’ve always like Lou Diamond Phillips). I hope you won’t let him descend any farther into villainy, as it could quickly become a cliché.
Enjoy Japan.
@Crazymom1. I hope you have success in contacting Taylor Swift.
will keep you and your family in my prayers
“Answer: True. They did the body-swapping/advanced race tech thing in last week’s Grey’s Anatomy as well.”
They also whistled Nessun Dorma in the shower, that made it an opera.
“the DVR percentages continue to rise. What does that mean?”
That people would rather go out, get drunk, fall over than watch it live? 😉
@jeremy
“I guess the sex deprived people may find the “sex” scenes shocking;”
No we don’t! *oops!* *g*
What some find shocking is that the show spends time on “real people” doing “real stuff”, when the show could be examining this through a scify lens, like exploring the morals of using someone elses body with someone you profess to love (and perhaps give them some disease in the progress), and how the “real air force” would deal with this.
@Lordshake
“i will save money to pay you folks for bring atlantis back just
for me… how much it costs”
Lets say 3 mil pr episodes, 22 episodes pr season, 5 seasons, so about 330 million – give or take *g*
@Mondschaf
Yes, you have a point. My intention was not to be super precise but rather show that by what we have seen so far, Rush is by no means the authority on acients nor the leading tech expert. Since sfHeath mentioned not to be familiar with the previous shows, I figured it is better to write a bit about the characters rather then just saying: “No, Rush is not an expert.” I was trying to put him in relation to other characters in previous shows. I think it is unlikely to change since this is the whole point of the show. They are ment to be the wrong people.
Rodney worked a lot with acient tech. One might assume that requires a decent understanding on acients as well. Given that he was on atlantis and once became a super evolved human genius and almost ascended himself, he is likely the most qualified to fly the Destiny. As I have mentioned Rush probabely wants to change this by gaining more knowledge on board the Destiny. Hence, he will do whatever he can to stay there (including not to die quickly). One more reason for him not to sit in the chair. Anyway, he might have different plans all toghether. We just haven’t seen enough to make that call.
@Golden
Your post reads as if I hit a nerve there. It was not my intention to upset anyone. For what it’s worth, I apologize. I am mearly representing a more “traditional” stargate fan.
you wrote:
“What Stargate still IS!
Yeah it is different than all other SGs.. but thats supposed to be like that.”
Yes, we have established this some time ago. We are all very well aware of it. They told us it will be different before it even aired. But I have to disagre and say, that to me it no longer is stargate. Mind you, it could be stargate and drama at the same time. I still would not like it as it is drama, but it would shut me up 🙂 Becaus then it purely becomes a question of taste.
you also wrote:
“Exploring the Destiny and the areas they’re travelling through is not exploration? Exploring planets, searching for food and water is not exploration? Discovering the very Destiny, the Kino, the new Chair.. is not discovery at all? Then… what is exploration? What is discovery? What is sience?”
There is not much exploring of the Destiny. Think about it. All of the sudden there is a chair. You did not see them searching. You did not see them working out what the chair represents. It’s not like they were exploring, it’s more like they found something to create more drama. There is zero exploring about the galaxies the Destiny traveld through. I know, they can’t access the ships computer… They do not explore the planets. They just try to get what they need. To me that is not exploration and it also does not qualify as science. Pretty much all they found so far are the three things you mentioned. 3 things in 9 episodes. That is not a lot of discovery. Exploration is the quest to find new knowledge and a greater understanding of the universe. I can not recognize this in SGU, not as a storyline. At best some of it happens in the background again to create more drama not to gain knowledge or understanding. Discovery is to find something intriguing or usefull. Can you point me to what this is in SGU? The only thing I can think of are the KINO. They don’t realy use anything else, and there has been nothing inherently new that I think is intriguing. Let’s just say that they analyzed the soil on the desert planet to determin if they can use it. I am not impressed with this sort of science. If you watch the specials that I have mentioned in my earlier post, can you point out what of it is in SGU?
How many times in either SG-1 or SGA did they go though a gate encounter some people and say: “We are explorers, we come in peace.”? Do you actually see this in SGU? I see a bunch of frightened pree-teens creating drama. But certainly not SG-personel working on a secret military base on a foreign planet no less. They must have some sort of qualification and interest in such “quests”. So, their reactions sure don’t help selling it as more real. In that regard Riley and Rush are the only reasonable persons on board. Eli is borderline to me. We have not seen enough to be sure. I perceive him as too “goofy”. He should be nerdy instead. Since, they no longer want the fun part anyway.
The impression a “traditional” stargate fan has is that they put enough into it to defend a positon but that’s the limit. By that I mean, yes there is some sort of exploration but it is not really shown and it is as little as possible to still go and say: “Hey, what are you talking about? There is exploration!” When in fact it is obviously left behind.
Further more you wrote:
“And, BTW, nobody actually forces you to watch SGU.”
I know, but I was trying to stay open minded and give it a chance. Don’t worry though, if I still don’t like it by the end of season 1, I will be gone for good and not return at all.
[quote]This episode was another disappointment, it started out well with the discovery of the chair … and then failed miserably when they didn’t even use it and more or less ignored it for the whole episode.[/quote] Are you kidding? The issue of the chair drove almost the entire episode. It wasn’t activated by the characters, but it was certainly [i]used[/i].
Large Headron Collider News/Update
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/11/large-hadron-co-7.php
another reminder: my brother recomends that you find some cucumber pepsi & green tea coke in tokyo for the weird food purchase of the day.
i suggest that if you don’t like soft drinks to ship them home & have someone in the office try them when you get back.
whether you do or don’t, have a good time over there.
Life was bad? I’m kinda shocked by LordShakes comment, clearly he didnt like the mix of real world with Scifi, in my opinion Carl did an excellent job. Also Telford any episode with him is worth watching.
Anyways speaking of internet mine has died completely, hasn’t effected me much what with having a phone with an insanely large screen and decent internet browsing stuff and one other thing.
But jeez… Internet, you’d think theyd get it all right by now.
Angelus: So sorry about your dad. Enjoy the time you have together.
Just saw “Life” and enjoyed it. At least they had chaperones shown in this episode. Are they going to have more guidelines furture shows for stone usage?
I see Young wears a wedding band but I thought they were divorced? Couples that are dramatic are so exhausting to be around. It’s always a crisis.
Mr. M. How are the kids doing? Bubba and his knee? Jelly with her whimpering in the morning? I feel bad for them while you are gone to Japan. I know they will miss you, as you them. I hope you found someone that will lavish them with attention.
T
@moe: For me, Rush is the only “right” person onboard the Destiny.
Admittedly, Sam and Rodney would be easier to deal with and less likely to follow their own agenda – if there’s a way home they might have shown much more determination to find it [though I’m not sure how Rodney would deal with the whole situation, he has grown during SGA but he might get a little crazy trapped there] but Rush actually wanted to go there and might be the only one comfortable on the ship, I wouldn’t include him in “the wrong people.”
And he certainly doesn’t see himself that way (though Young might not agree with him 😉 ).
Apart from that, you’re right that we haven’t seen enough to really know what Rush is up to. There are some possible assumptions but we don’t know any certain facts.
I hope he gets to do something “brave” in future episodes (don’t take it as a heroic brave, I highly doubt he’s going to save someone out of deadly peril by endangering someone else [himself in this case], but I’d like to see something that does show he’s not a coward similar to his refusal on being put on the list when Destiny was facing the sun)
*gets-idea*: but if he ever gets to save someone’s life by endangering his own I would love it to be Young’s life xD
And sorry if I missed your point 😉
Joe have a safe trip! It is always fun “tagging along” with you. Who’s minding the children? What number can we reach you at if you post late and we become worried?
Sorry Mr. M. but I just saw that about Emma.
crazymom1: I’ll keep Emma in my prayers and hope her last weeks are the best ever! She sure is a cutie!!! Prayers going to her family and friends, also.
T
So one question….do you giggle even just a little bit every time you write “syfy”? 🙂 (My girlfriend has now implanted in my head that it looks like “Syph-fee” and I can’t read it any other way.)
Loving the show so far as I’ve said before. I just wish it was longer! I love the Earth based stuff and don’t want to lose any of that (beyond the character development, I also appreciate the scope it brings…the fact that it opens the show up more than just the ship and the crew. I like knowing that what’s happening in SGU is part of the larger SG universe and that the people being on the Destiny is major concern and priority for SG Command. I like to imagine all SG teams having a new mission parameter when going thru the gate that they need to keep a heads up on anything that might assist with or inform the Destiny mission.)
But I also love the stuff on the ship…I’m dying to see them investigate more of Destiny and surrounding planets, etc.
So yeah, any chance of making the eps 2 hours long? 🙂
crazymom1 Wish I knew some way of helping Emma with her dream. I’d say contact the Make A Wish Foundation, but not sure if there’s enough time. Thinking of your family.
It would be nice if some would take a look at Em’s situation and quit whining about such petty problems like Stargate not being exactly as they want it and get some perspective. They’re lucky enough to be alive to watch a show that they love to hate.
Joe – You’ve been fighting me and fighting me about having a device like the Kindle or Reader and now you casually throw out that you’re thinking of getting one! The only reason I’ve stayed away from the Kindle is because of incidences like the following: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html
I like that my Reader is disconnected from the web. More book like.
But if you do get one, welcome to the club! The Club of Peoples Insanely Addicted to our Digital Readers Club. We need an acronym to be a real group. Riley – what did we decide to call it?
Have a safe trip!
@moe.
Mmpf. Sorry if i sounded a little aggressive, i should have used more smileys to make this more clear 😛 (Damn Internetz! 😀 )
Secondly, English is not my mother tongue (as you surely noticed already :P), so im not as eloquent as in German.
“Becaus then it purely becomes a question of taste.”
Hmm. Is not everything a question of taste? There is no such thing that is liked by really everyone.. if you do it “right” for one group then it automatically is wrong to another group. You just cant please everyone out there. Some like it more personal, more “real” like SGU is, some like it a lot more sci-fi-ish, more action, more “perfect” characters, heroes which hardly ever fail, like it was in SG-1 and SGA.
They were trying to figure out what the chair does, but if you are not allowed to use it, thats not so easy i guess. ^-^
I suppose they ommited the searching scenes to save time or something? So that they can focus on the real storry, instead of running around without any action?
And exploring the planet with a scheduled departure time in your back is not quite fun, i imagine. Its like “fly to Tokio and explore it, but be back the day after tomorrow!” Im sure they would explore more, if they could access the computer, and actually steer the Destiny where they want it to go. But the uncertainty increases the fun and exitement, at least to me. 🙂 I guess (hope), that they will finally be able to use the computer. But we’re in the first season, so its okay for me that they are not in full control of all the technology yet. Just think of SG1 and how long it took them to aquire advanced foreign tech? Took them quite a while, too.
You’re right about the quantity of explorations and discoveries. 3 in 9 EPs is not quite much… but they’re just getting used to all of this stuff, and this will increase in the future i hope… does it Mr. M.?
“Don’t worry though, if I still don’t like it by the end of season 1, I will be gone for good and not return at all.”
Are we in a hurry or something? We can just sit back and enjoy the show… and give it time. If it isnt how we want it, maybe check back after a while and take a look at Season 2 or so.
“The impression a “traditional” stargate fan has is that they put enough into it to defend a positon but that’s the limit.”
As i said earlier, they try to please as much as possible, but pleasing everyone is just impossible.
I like SGU overall, with assorted quibbles. My favorite episode so far is “Light”, with “Time as my second favorite. “Earth” is the one I like least. “Life” I’m not so sure about – I loved some aspects and didn’t like others.
Stuff I don’t like:
*too many episodes using the stones loses some of the trapped and isolated feel.
*sex in borrowed bodies squicks me hard. Very, very not cool.
*why is Jack O’Neil tolerating Telford’s antics?
Stuff I like:
*Love Young. Awesome character, flawed and human and very powerful to watch.
*Love TJ. She’s in a hard position and is doing her best to handle it all with composure and grace.
*Love Greer. Hothead but with a sense of honor and no apologies for being who he is.
*Love Park’s form of stress relief!
*Love watching Rush. He doesn’t quite fit as “love to hate”, he’s too ambiguous for that.
*Eli has grown on me a lot. I didn’t like him at first (gratuitous cliche geek), but the “math boy” bit in “Light” won me over. And I love his geek references.
Questions:
*I know Riley the gate tech was severely injured. Are we going to get to see him again? I like him!
*How long with the mid season hiatus be? When will we get more SGU?
Like pretty much everyone I know of, I hate the mid season hiatus thing. But some shows on SciFi (before it changed the name) have had those hiatuses go on waaaaaaaaaay too long. I’m thinking of Eureka in particular, but the hiatus on SGA’s last couple of seasons was annoyingly long, too. I wouldn’t mind them so much if they were shorter and especially if we got a firm date for when the show would be back when the hiatus starts.
Just thought I’d drop by and say goodbye, Joe. I really enjoyed reading your blog, and I had high hopes for SGU but I’m sorry, I’m gone.
It might be glib for me to say, but I like my science fiction to have heros. I like them to be larger than life. Life itself has parts that are grinding and hard, and I see enough of it around me to decide that I don’t want to see it in my television shows.
Perhaps what worked for SG1 and SGA was the lack of time to spend navel gazing, the opportunity to show character development was restricted severely because of the fact you were doing an action/adventure show. The thing is, that’s part of the fun, seeing bits of relationship appear. Having to watch every single moment of developing schoolboy crushes, or how someone makes a powerplay is, for me, like pulling teeth.
The stones were, in my opinion, a mistake. The ability to hop back to Earth for input on problems – sheesh, it’s like they’re commuting!
I am a fan of Ming-Na and I applaud her choices in Life. But it didn’t move me to decide to keep watching.
I really do wish you the best, and a good trip. Goodbye.
I’ve been a Stargate fan since the original movie.
I’ve watched most SG-1 seasons, all SGA and the two movies. And I’ve been watching SGU since its arrival.
I’m a science fiction fan first, a scifi fan definitely second (if you don’t know the difference, you’re too young).
And I prefer hard SF to character-driven stories. By that, I mean stories that are driven by technology, and sense of wonder and all the stuff that is the ‘science’ in science fiction (even when it’s mostly technobabble).
SG-1 and SGA were hard scifi, mostly, with occasional character exposition (but typically with a sense of humour). SGU is character-driven mostly. Episodes such as LIFE are virtually all character-driven, with no sense of humour. Unrelenting angst.
Which is why I, and others like me, thought LIFE was a waste of space.
Yeah, we understand that the network-perceived success of BSG means that character and angst are all the rage. But it’s an uncomfortable trait for Stargate. What if the same strategy had been followed for SG-1?
When Daniel ascended, we would have seen episode after episode of brooding and raging at the stars.
When Jack’s mind was subsumed to the Ancient device, we would have relived his entire life, with insights from past lovers and former colleagues.
Sam would have been seen suffering every agony of her captivity amongst the replicators.
Teal’c would have attempted stirring speeches to the leaders of the Jafa, and suffered great torment when rebuffed.
Instead, everyone just got on with solving the problem. EE ‘Doc’ Smith would have been proud.
I was delighted at first when I thought I understood the possibilities opened up by the communications stones — the opportunity to keep the series embedded in the ‘real world’ through regular contact with SGC. Fantastic. A chance for occasional technobabble and a serious attempt to understand at least some of what the Destiny offers to humanity’s guardians.
Instead, the stones have become a convenient McGuffin to enable constant emotional triggers. Others have commented on the easy acceptance of the body transferral concept by loved ones. Yeah, right. And no limitations on the stones, either, apart from momentary loss of contact with dropping into or out of FTL. I guess we’ll be seeing a few other quirks from time to time (such as LIFE’s convenient dropout experienced by the colonel, with nary a hint of technobabble to explain the writers’ need to avoid Telford’s early demise).
I do sympathise with the dramatic limitations of the ‘Lost in Space’ plot device. Like ‘The Fugitive’, it all depends on the one-armed man remaining in sight but forever out of reach. ‘Gilligans Island’ couldn’t keep up the suspense — nor could Voyager. It’s unlikely that SGU can either.
A further problem inherent in the notion of an uncontrollable object (the Destiny) hurtling on an unknown FTL path through the galaxies — even if you meet new enemies, you’ve quickly left them behind as you hurtle through interstellar space. Any civilisation large enough to have populated entire galaxies will either (a) have the necessary tools and weapons to deal with the Destiny and its territorial incursions in a very direct and fatal manner; or (b) be too fixated on managing its own affairs to worry about flybys.
But of course, none of that will matter to the crew of the Destiny — they’ll be too busy ‘stoned’ and back on Earth, dealing with petty issues about who’s sleeping with who.
In our household, we will persevere with SGU a while longer — too many chevrons locked and loaded to give up too soon.
But — as perhaps a little market research would tell you — you are disappointing your most loyal hard SF followers all the while that the Destiny follows its current course.
Is the new direction compelling enough to attract the ratings life support the series requires?
@glider
““And, BTW, nobody actually forces you to watch SGU.””
Nobody forces you to read his messages either 😉
@Micheal Cee
would you omnicient elder please tell us totally ignorant younglings, what the hell the difference between science fiction and scifi is supposed to be?
Thanks in advance. 🙂
4Crazymom1 – sorry to hear of Emma’s situation.
Perhaps – take Narelle’s suggestion to contact Make-a-wish cause you never know what may or what can happen. It cannot hurt to make contact.
For many years, Make-A-Wish was Gatecon’s charity and they brought very heartwarming stories back to share with the fans. They have been known to do things on short notice.
Please do try.
I have watched all 300+ episodes (including the original movie) and while I at first was concern with the value of the Chloe character I have moved on and have seen the value that she could bring to the show.
I think that SGU has been for me a very entertaining show and frankly as JM as said about the last three episodes to the break would be great so far so good. I expect more of this in the second half.
Awaiting the episode “LOST” with Greer back story.
I’d just like to inform you of this story:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/11/02/dvr-viewers-dont-skip-the-commercials/
As it says on the tin, DVR viewers don’t usually skip commercials. So if the network gets huffy about it, you can remind them that those commercials are still being seen and they can remind the advertisers of this.
@Lordshake.
Your comments/rants are interesting. But I’m not sure I can take your reviews of SGU seriously when your screen name links to videos of glorified Power Rangers.
Perhaps Dr. Who is more your thing.
@ crazymom1 – {{{{hugs}}}} I really don’t know what else to say…
@ Joe – Have a good evening, Joe. Have a good trip – don’t eat too much! 😉 And go visit that parasite museum! We want pictures! 😀 (If you don’t, I’ll start posting youtube links to bot fly larvae removal here, every single day!)
Off to watch Sanctuary – was too tired Friday night, and so it’ll make up for no Inspector Lewis and the ‘dishy Sergeant Hathaway’ tonight, or in the foreseeable future. I really hope they film a fourth series…I’m missing my angsy pale boy already! God, I’m like a junkie, in need of a fix… 😛
das
Oh great, my head just exploded from the ego boost from knowing Carl likes my posts.
Thanks a lot Joe. Now I must scrub (a lot of) brain guts from the walls of my room, all while I have no head. How will I clean without a head?! I need my head for cleaning!!
And, you know, living and stuff!! And homework!
😀
Seriously though, thank you Carl! As a fan of yours and your show, this is so incredibly cool and surreal! Now I must put double the effort into these posts!
Yes, indubitably, the veritable propensity for excellence within the milieu of the audio-visual that is the eloquence of Stargate Universe is a blessed addendum to the arduous task of exploring one’s limitations of earning monetary assets for the third prime number’s worth of daily periods of temporal advancement. Yeah totally.
Great, now my exploded-head hurts.
So Joe, going to Tokyo so soon? Wow. I didn’t know it was this quick. I can’t wait to see your exploits and those Weird Food Purchases of the Day vids where you force down strange foods for our utter amusement. It is utterly amusing. Lets see if your reactions can beat those of the Chinese stomach medicine this time!
Pro-tip: instead of just filming the WFPotD segments and taking pics of the sights, how about filming bits of your day as you cruise around Tokyo? I would love to actually see you interacting with the taxi drivers and the various small conversations you have with strangers on the street in broken Japanese! It’d be great! For us! 😀
Also, don’t forget to show us how those bathtubs work! 😉
Oh, and thank you for the update on the SGU a-happenin’s! Hopefully we’ll get the renewal announcement soon!
@ Tammy Dixon: Thanks! 😀
I just wanted to say how much I liked last week’s episode Time (sorry I am a little behind on episodes!). I thought it was a brilliant story, and I loved the ending (in fact all of it!). It had the sci-fi story and drama, and ‘team feeling’ that I loved from SG1 and SGA. You said you thought it could be more of a season 2 episode rather than a season 1, but I think it worked brilliantly in this season.
I always find season 1 of any show difficult (including SG1 and SGA), because you don’t yet know any of the characters. It is hard to get invested in them and to care about them. For this reason in season 1 I always dread the character episodes because I really don’t care about them enough to want to spend a whole episode finding out about them. Its catch 22, I want to know them better so I can invest more in them, but at the same time I don’t want to watch a whole episode about them. I usually have to go back and rewatch season 1 after I have watched 3 seasons to really appreciate those earlier character episodes. For example I remember watching the first season of Atlantis and really not liking it that much at all, but by the end of season two I was totally hooked, and rewatched the fist season and loved it second time around.
I also think it is interesting that in stargate you always start from the beginning with a team of people….. So the audience sees their relationships develop from their first meeting rather than going in to a team that is already established (which happens on a lot of other shows). On SGU I like it that some of the characters have pre existing relationships, and I hope we get to see more of that. I think it is the ‘team feeling’ which I really like in stargate, and the relationship between the characters, which develops over time as the characters become more familiar with each other. I suppose it is accurate to real life, in that it takes an extreme experience or working together for a long time for people to be comfortable with each other. Even people who are very different…. I liked the Ronan McKay relationship from SGA, you would never imagine them being friends when the Ronan character was introduced but by the end of the show their relationship had gradually developed and they had some brilliant scenes together (Fatman and Ronan 🙂 !).
I thought Time was great because there were character moments, and you did get a feeling of them being a team together, and yet it was cunningly hidden in a great story with loads of sci- fi elements!
To be honest I have found SGU a little slow, so far, and would ideally like a bit more action and self contained episodes which at the same time add to the story as a whole (like Time). But I love that you are concentrating on characters and the drama between them. And I think the new look of the show is beautiful and I can’t wait for each new episode… so you must be getting something wright!!
I hope there will be more episodes like Time this season, but if not I will be sticking around until the end of season two when I can go back and watch season 1 again and properly appreciate it!
Thanks for all your amazing work on the show, and have a great time in Tokyo!
@Kabra: You’re SO wordy today! 🙂
Question Sir,
I recently found the Kino-sodes on the MGM site and they are really good. I’ve found I actually enjoyed the show more after I watched them. They seem to contain a lot of humor and sense of fun that is not being show in the broadcast program. I can understand that since the tone is so different but they also seem to be highly under publicized. Why is that? It seems a shame.
@Mondschaf
Ok, I can mostly agree to that. Though Rush was assigned to make contact to the 9th chevron, not beeing on board the Destiny. But yes, he might qualify as “the right person” after all. It depends on which direction they will go. Same goes for Eli and Riley. That’s why I haven’t given up my hope all together yet. (When they went to atlantis they assuemd to be trapped there. Rodney went anyway. Never underestimate Rodney, especially not his ego 🙂 )
@Golden
Don’t worry, I am not offended at all. I am aware that this is the internetz 🙂 I try to get the meaning rather than the word. If we take everything literally we will ultimately end up in a flame war. I would rather not write at all than risking this in a place like here. I do appreciate the possibilities we have in this blog. And kudos to J. Mallozzi for showing all the comments. Even those that oppose SGU.
“Hmm. Is not everything a question of taste?”
One might argue that math has nothing to do with taste. Only the fact if you like it or not. By that I mean if the stargate story gets continued noone can object because it is still representing the franchise. However, it does not feel like that to the “traditional” stargate fan. We can’t help but hold the producers, writers, actors etc to a higher standard. A standard of their own making through out the last 15 years. And I don’t think it’s wrong to do so.
“I suppose they ommited the searching scenes to save time or something? So that they can focus on the real storry, instead of running around without any action?”
What story? What action?
I would like to see how they discover and figure out the chair rather then watch them “hump” around and get drunk in a disco, in foreign bodies no less. It doesn’t feel like they tell a stargate story. At this point I don’t even care anymore if they find the chair in a heroic or dramatic way. I just want to see how they do it. It would help to reconnect to what we “old school stargate fans” see as the essence of stargate.
Imagine they find different elements on the ship. They need to put them together to make it work or get a clue how to get home. Obtaining these elements could be very dramatic. Especially on an old broken ship. They could need to walk outside on the Destiny in FTL when one looses his grip and falls off… presumed beeing dead he managed somehow to grab on to the back of the Destiny and get on board again. But since the Destiny is sooo big he needs a few days to find back with no food no water etc. It could be told very dramatic rather than with action. Along the way they can discover insights about the acients. Do you see any of this happening any time soon? Maybe during a pillow fight and then call it stargate wars? 🙂
“Are we in a hurry or something? We can just sit back and enjoy the show… and give it time. If it isnt how we want it, maybe check back after a while and take a look at Season 2 or so.”
Hmm… that is good advice. After a few month of waiting until it started and some more weeks hoping it will pick up, I guess, I lost somewhat sight of it. Stargate taught us how to dream and not to give up no matter what. Fight for our beliefs… So, what reaction did you expect? 🙂
@moe
“However, it does not feel like that to the “traditional” stargate fan.”
I don’t mind when you say something is your opinion, but the sentence implies all “traditional” Stargate fans feel this way.
I am a “traditional” Stargate fan, in that I own and have seen every episode of SG1, SGA, and SGU, muliple times. I, for one, don’t agree with your opinions. Thus, I would appreciate you not speaking for all of us “traditional” Stargate fans. Thanks! 🙂
My opinion is that SGU fully lives up to the standard set by the producers, writers, actors, etc. over the previous 15 seasons of Stargate. In some cases, it may even surpass it.
While I like some episodes more than others, I do like every episode of SGU I’ve seen thus far. Some I watched as many as six times. I’ve only watched Life twice, so far, but hey, it’s only been out a couple days. I’m sure by the end of the week I’ll have watched it a couple more.
To those wondering about the Kinos and what happens at the end of Time, head over to the official Stargate web site and check out Kino 18…it explains a lot. 🙂
http://stargate.mgm.com/view/content/1838/index.html
Enjoy your trip to Tokyo, Joe. I really look forward to hearing about culinary reviews and entertaining stories. And, like so many others, hoping to some fun and interesting Weird Food Purchase of the Days!
Because you asked so nicely (and with due respect), young Golden, here’s the distinction:
According to legendary SF author Harlan Ellison, the term sci-fi is a “debasement” — and a dangerous one — of a proud genre that is properly referred to as science fiction. Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski appears to agree with him.
Sci-fi, to their thinking, equates to science fiction that’s been lobotomized — dumbed down for digestion by mass audiences with little knowledge or care for true, intelligent science fiction.
The debate spills over into this blog entry: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=1615
@golden
“Are we in a hurry or something?”
Yes!
@crazymom: Hugs to you and yours – our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Thanks for the dedication Joe, We really appreciate it.
And to all those who wished us well, Thank you for showing me there’s still some good people left out there.
Joe,
This afternoon I had a complete change of heart about SGU and I wanted to tell you how and why, and perhaps my experience will be shared by many others who were once, as I was, disheartened with the show.
My wife and I decided to stay home today and do nothing, nothing at all. After an hour that got really boring and I suggested we watch all 9 episodes of SGU, one after the other, and see how it goes. We purchased them from iTunes, in HD, and watched them on a 50″ plasma.
My problem initially with the show was how unlikeable some of the characters are. Now, with the conclusion of “Life” we have learned that these characters run really deep, and I have to admit that while you told us that these were the “wrong people for the job” (for the most part), they are now beginning to gel and the results are terrific. They, the characters, are the wrong people for Destiny, which makes for great drama, action, and so many other things.
Using the stones to stay in touch with Earth is not only a great plot device for stories to tell, the stones are also the only lifeline for these “wrong” people and without them (the stones) I think things could be far worse (for them). I like this “device” for allowing us to get to know Homeworld Security and the players there. It works and works great.
The frequent reminders of, and multiple quest appearances of personnel from SG1 give me a real, solid, connection to the show that I hold dear, SG1. Continue to have quest stars from SG1 and frequent mentions in dialog about O’Neill, et al, are just terrific and I get a smile across my face when I hear a name from the past. I had no idea that Jack was in “Time” and when I saw him I was delighted more than I can say. As long as SGU is playing respect to SG1 I’ll always stay connected to the roots of the franchise and that is all I asked of the show from the beginning.
There are some things that worry me about Season Two though (I have a strong feeling that Season 2 will be given the green light soon) ; first is that the CGI this year is amazing, definitely big budget movie quality. Simply stunning. How in the world can you afford to keep this up?
Second, how do you keep Robert Carlyle happy enough to stick around a TV show that gets a million viewers each week on plays on Friday night, on cable? I have a feeling this guy is going to want out sooner rather than later. (Naturally I have no knowledge about this and I am making big assumptions based on what I hear from my daughter about actors and the “grass is always greener” syndrome.) I’m hoping he sticks around, as well as Ming Na, the others (except for LDP) are relative unknowns so unless someone pulls a “Rainbow” they’ll stick it out.
Lastly, the quality of this show blows away anything on SyFy, and the story telling is much more solid than BSG ever was (by episode 9 in Season 1 BSG was already fraying at the edges), obviously SGU would draw twice the audience on Tuesday night over Friday night. Believing that the show won’t be moved to another night I have to believe that SyFy is going to be putting the screws to the show by reducing the budget and at the same time ramp up the action going forward, this is not something that can be accomplished ( in my opinion) while maintaining the certain “elegance” that SGU possesses right now.
So, anyway, these are my thoughts after coming down from watching 9 commercial-less HD episodes in a row. Powerful, deep, serious, and nuanced nods to the past, I feel like I experienced the best 9 hours of Stargate ever. In reality that’s not true, SG1 and Atlantis has given me many hours of pure enjoyment and fulfillment, but feeling like this after a marathon of SGU is a marvelous thing.
I suppose I had a lot of mistrust in the beginning, and seeing how different SGU was from SG1/SGA gave me the feeling that you were dismissing them out-of-hand. I understand now that what you’re trying to do is elevate Stargate to a higher standard of storytelling. This is a good thing.
I apologize to you and the others at Stargate for jumping the gun, making premature decisions, and not believing. Stargate Universe is a great show and its in great hands. Let’s hope SyFy and MGM give you all the support you want for future seasons…
Maybe I missed an explantation, but in “Time” why wasn’t Rush sent back in time the way the kino was? And also was it intentional to have Eli’s line about waiting to tell people how they feel be almost identical to Sam’s line in “Meridian?”
Hey Joe, before you leave, do tell us how your mom is doing, wouldja?
This is the condensed version of what I was going to say last night (I had it all typed out on my iPhone and then it just disappeared…Pfft):
Actually, any homosexual relationship, kiss, etc is still somewhat controversial to some people. You should be aware that not all people jump on the bandwagon immediately. Some people don’t understand homosexuality, some are afraid of it, and some hate it.
I didn’t like the kiss. That being said, that wasn’t what turned me off of the episode. The parts that took place on the ship were wonderful, as per usual. The Earth segments, however, just didn’t capture me. It felt like a soap opera – all emotions, all the time. I can understand the hook-ups and emotional distress on the ship, but the portions on Earth just aren’t catching me and are, in fact, making portions of the show quite unbearable.
I am sticking with it, though – I like Rush and Greer.
Joe,
On the Kindle. I would have never bought one for myself, but my father bought both my sister and I one as a gift a few weeks ago.
I must say I think it is pretty awesome. And it gives me the ability to read your blog when I’m out without having to lug around a laptop or read the tiny print on my Blackberry.
P.S. Just found out Dad’s been watching SGU and he is enjoying it very much.
P.P.S. My favorite episode so far is “Time”, those critters were scary!
@ crazymom1 – I too would suggest calling the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I pray that little Emma surprises everyone and beats the time frame given. You are all in my prayers.
@ Angelus – sorry about your dad. I’ll be keeping you in my prayers as well. Don’t give up. There is always hope.
G’day Joe
Time was great.
It was like a visit to the past, an old fashioned ‘gate story. Hubby was surprised at the end, saying, “is that it, what happened next, is it to be continued next week?”
Seriously, was he watching the same thing i was? I had to explain it to him.
Have a ball in Japan.
I pray to […] this […] SGU show […]!.
🙂
[slightly edited rant]
[…] this […] tv show called SGU […] original […].
[…] i […] also […] like you.
[…]
Now brad wright and joseph mallozi [..] are […] hard [..] working […] very good with SG1 and even […] SGA.
[slightly edited rant]
Happy trails and God’s speed, Joe. Looking forward to your culinary extravaganza reports from Tokyo.
Have a wonderful trip Joe. Hope you find lots of WFPOTD entries to share with us!
Hugs to Angelus and Crazymom1 and their families.
@KCBlueWolf
You are the first “traditional” Stargate fan that I encounter with such an opinion. None the less I do apologize for using the wording “we traditional stargate fans”. I did not intend to speak for others per se. Rather for many who supported the franchise like you did, but feel the opposite. If you do some internet research you will find there are many of those. How many does it need so I can use the word “we”? Obvoiusly there are some who like all the shows. (I mentioned this in an other blogentry) I do however still feel like the majority of “traditional” stargate fans would agree with my assessment. Feel free to prove me wrong 🙂
If I may quote myself: “I try to get the meaning rather than the word.”
I was hoping others (maybe you) would do the same. In the least I tried to give a reason rather than saying it is my opinion. If you read through my previous post more carefully you might find that I try to throw in ideas how to improve SGU in that regard. I also mentioned that I would not like the pace of drama anyway but that one could still improve in regard to the what I call “traditional” aspects of stargate. That should indicate that I realize they want it to be a drama and there will be no chance to change that. I don’t want to ruin this for those who like it. I want to make it more likeable to those that miss the old days. I try to separate between opinion/taste and storytelling/facts. Maybe I just faild in doing so? I am not much of a writer myself, I mearly write much because I don’t know how else to make my point.
Again, sorry to have upset you. I certainly do not intend to speak for anyone else. My native language is not english and I am dyslexic… cut me some slacks please 😉 Mentioning this makes me feel redundant 🙂
The impression I get is that those who like it just say so. But never really have a reason. Then again I don’t always read everything 😉 All I am saying is so far I don’t like it and I have stated my reasons for doing so.
you wrote: “My opinion is that SGU fully lives up to the standard set by the producers, writers, actors, etc. over the previous 15 seasons of Stargate. In some cases, it may even surpass it.”
I fail to see it. Of course that does not mean it isn’t there. Would you care to enlighten me?
In your mailbag, the following was answered:
Klemen writes: “…are we going to meet some sentient alien beings in season 1?”
Answer: Yes, but you’ll have to wait until after the mid-season hiatus. But not long after the mid-season hiatus.
I should think a more prudent question is… will we be meeting any *sapient* life in Season 1? I’d argue the sand/bug creatures from Air 3 were sentient, something even more apparent in their appearance in Water.
I’d probably further argue, based on their activities in Air 3 that they exhibited at least a rudimentary sapience when helping out Scott.
@moe:
“I would like to see how they discover and figure out the chair rather then watch them “hump” around and get drunk in a disco, in foreign bodies no less.”
I’m sure they will find out more about that chair.. maybe not as fast as we are used to?
The thing with the stones is an awesome idea.. it opens up so much possibilities that are borderline. Like the one that you stated above: having somebody else’s body get drunk.. or worse. Exploring (there, the exploration again!) this is quite exciting, amd im looking forward what we are going to see in the future.
“Stargate taught us how to dream and not to give up no matter what.
Fight for our beliefs… So, what reaction did you expect? :)”
I expected a little more patience, to be honest. 😛
“My native language is not english and I am dyslexic… cut me some slacks please :)”
Either I’m failing to get the irony here… but for a non-native your english is quite awesome. 😛
@KCBlueWolf:
Defining the term “Traditional Stargate fan” is not that easy.. everybody has his own personal definition of it i guess.
And thx for the links, i wanted to watch these pre-EPs, but coulnd find the links.. until now 😀
@Michael Cee:
Sci-fi, to their thinking, equates to science fiction that’s been lobotomized — dumbed down for digestion by mass audiences with little knowledge or care for true, intelligent
science fiction.
Sci-fi, to my thinking, just simply equates to an abbreviation of the term sience fiction due to chronic lazyness on my part. So please dont take offence here.
P.S.
“[slightly edited rant]”
:rofl:
I like your new way of dealing with this kind of stuff. x)
@Golden
I see you take the meaning of exloring to a new level 🙂 I am having a hard time applying this to stargate, but yes you are right in this regard.
“I expected a little more patience, to be honest.”
I am willing to stick with it for a season. Given that we have one season a year, I am willing to wait a year. Ok, a year will bring me a bit into season 2. I am not making this exact science here. Is that not enough patience? Or did you mean I have started to rant too soon?
“Either I’m failing to get the irony here… but for a non-native your english is quite awesome.”
Thanks. But there is no irony. It’s true. I was mentioning it because KCBlueWolf post seamed to be initiated by a single missphrasing on my part. I wanted to clear up that I do not intend to speak for others. Maybe I overreacted… Hope he is not mad at me now 🙂 Anyway, we had English at school but I never got it right. I actually have my English skills from watching movies and TV. So don’t ever say you can’t learn anything on television 🙂
Hey Joe,
Have a wonderful trip. Looking forward to all of the crazy stories and delicious food.
Cheers, Chev
Hehe yeah, watching Stargate is quite good English education!! 😀
Regarding the “patience” thingy. No, it was not meant to be an exact number… just watch it when it is aired, and be fine with that. Im having a hard time putting into words what i want to say.. its just that this is only TV (whooops, quite evil of me so say that here xD), and as such, i like to watch it, but if its not good i have no problem with turning away and doing something else. But this doesnt mean that im not a fan of SG.. its just, that if something essential about it changes, and i dislike it, then i drop it and im good with that. Thats what i mean.. or was that still too confusing?! xD
I am an avid stargate fan. Though I do feel Life was a very weak episode it’s still miles above Emancipation because of that Ancient Chair. Which brings me to my question.
The Anicents left Earth a few Million years back and already had left their repositories then I’m presuming. So taking into account the Destiny is older, that means the ship is how old in round terms?
@Golden
Don’t worry. I think, I get the point 🙂 Essentially you have a “live and let live” policy. Do as you like and let the rest for others to enjoy. I have to agree this seams to be the best strategy. Actually, I am somewhat surpised about myself here. For some reason after 15 years I find that I’m having a hard time letting go. If you support the franchise for 15 years, it feels more like SGU is a “eat or die” policy instead.
I just can’t recognize how the stargate story is continued and it drives me nuts 🙂 I do like complex stories but there has to be something that is beeing told or else you wont get to the point before people lose interest. I actually compared SGA’s first 9 episodes to SGU’s first 9 episodes and wrote down the story elements in order to compare them. Story wise it’s a change from 100% to zero. I figured I don’t post it because I doubt it will bring any positive results. Maybe I change my mind after the mid hiatus. I would just like to point out that if anything we should compare SGA and SGU. But not SG-1 and SGU. Because SG-1 had to establish a base while the others are both spinoffs. So, they have the advantage to build on an existing story. Only that in SGU there is none 🙂
Come on you are editing my rant too much. Leave something for people to see.
Now i am motivated to rant more. May be without idiot word , i think it is getting to you.
I don’t know what people write in these offencive posts. However, I find editing a post to the extent of changeing it’s meaning dubious at best. Same goes for quoting someone. If you do that don’t take out a part that will have no meaning without context. Clearly in J.Mallozzi’s case this is a joke, but still… I doubt there is anything worth while reading in these post anyway. Just ignore them.
Rather then taking the time to edit post like that, why not answer a real fan question instead?
alex wrote: “Now i am motivated to rant more.”
That’s exactly what I would anticipate. Some might find it that funny, they will challange themself to write a rant, just so the editor(s) need time to edit the post.
“Maybe without idiot word , i think it is getting to you.”
I wonder when the saying “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” first occurred.
I used to come around here daily but since you started blogging about episodes of SGU I’ve stayed away. I’m surprised at all the negative comments here and on IMDB.
I like SGU – I don’t think it’s as good as SG1 or Atlantis but it’s still Stargate and IMO it’s better than anything else that’s on right now until LOST starts.
Anyone know the ratings numbers so far for each episode? I am very curious.
Just finished watching 9 episodes of “Stargate Universe” in a row … well, not exactly in a row … over a couple of days. BUT nothing else in-between, so there was no distraction.
My impressions?
Yes, I’m impressed.
The stories vary from “quite nice” to “very good”. The acting varies from “quite well” to “splendid”.
The setting isn’t new, but hey … there are actually no new settings for stories. Everything has already been written in the history of storytelling (if you care to go back to Homer), it’s just a matter of how the elements are combined and I quite like the way there are combined here.
There are some similarities to SG-Atlantis, the energy-problem, the unknown technology … but Altlantis was a carefully planned mission. A mission without a return-ticket, but nevertheless planned. Personnel and equipement were chosen and they were well prepared.
In “Universe” everyone and everything is literally thrown into a weird situation and they have to deal with it … or die.
A fascinating point to start from, with a lot of potential for fascinating storytelling.
The characters are the most important component for me … and yes I like them … well, some of them … well, most of them. 😉
“The wrong people in the wrong place” that is a most accurate description of what we see. And it’s maybe the most terrifying component of the whole mixture.
First of all: Rush, the damaged genius. A fascinating character because we have absolutely no idea of his agenda. Not being sure about the motives and goals of a character make it incredibly trilling to watch the development of the character.
Cloe:Also very fascinating character, because she is utterly useless and she knows it. Her professional competence as a daughter and assistant to a US senator is absolutely worthless in the real world, in an environment where every bit of knowledge is needed to survive.
Quite brave of the authors to put such a character in the center of the action and I admire that courage.
It would have been so much easier, if the young lady had been a nurse or a biologist or anything else useful. Now she and the community have to deal with the thought that she has nothing to give and yet uses the few resources they have.
Quite a lot of potential for conflicts and character-development here.
Maybe she will be useful later, when they make contact to other races. As a diplomat maybe … at least she knows how to write speeches.
Young: Well … nothing new here. We’ve had unpleasant leaders before. I don’t quite know what to make of this character. Time will tell …
Eli: the geek. 😀 Young and sort of cute. I don’t like “cute” and he a has too much of the everybodys-darling-component for my taste.
Again, time will tell …
Johanson: Again a brave decision … to start the show without a proper doctor is risky. I am waiting to see what happens if one of the main characters is in a situation where serious intensive care or surgery is needed. I hope, she doesn’t turns out to be a prodigy.
Scott: Well … uhm … I don’t know. He is there an he is doing his job. I don’t see anything special there at the moment.
Greer: Uhm … well … some sort of underdog. A kind of inverse snob. Don’t like that type of person, but the character has a lot of potential for conflict, so it is an interesting character.
Camille: Kind of fascinating. Torn apart between her duty for the IOA and the promises they make her and the people she is actually trapped with. I will love to see, how she will behave in that situation.
Destiny: Yes, I consider the old lady a character. See seems to me like one. And I like her. Plus … she is beautiful. I like starships, but they should be beautiful.
I’m glad no one of the main characters died yet. I think I have been watching too many british TV shows lately, where the authors have no problems killing half (and more) of the main characters or replacing the complete main cast throughout the series. I know, that can be a part of good drama, but it still huts to see your favourite characters disappear just after you started liking them. 😉
So much for now … more random thoughts will follow for sure. 🙂
Please excuse my mistakes in spelling, grammar and phrasing. I’m not a native-speaker and right now I’m incredibly tired. I used the spell-check of Word, but that doesn’t help with grammar and phrasing.
A question: why do some people want the characters on SGU to turn into two-dimensional cardboard cutout ‘heroes’, rather than continuing to develop as the realistic, flawed human beings they are at the moment?
Another question: why are some people so offended that these human beings, like most real-life people, enjoy sex and alcohol?
I’m genuinely curious to know why realism, complexity and human drama are suddenly interpreted as bad television when it’s in the context of Stargate.
@cicero:
Honestly, I don’t understand it. I personally have a strong dislike for flawless characters. They have a tendency to become boring after a very short amount of time.
So I like flawed characters … as long as they don’t turn into dysfunctional characters.
the characters are flawed in “Universe”… all of them and none seems to be dysfunctional yet.
So for me they are perfect. I might like them or not, but I’m not indifferent towards them. Beeing indifferent to characters in books, movies or TV-shows is always something that makes me turn away sooner or later.
The characters in “Universe” make me think about them, their motives and goals. They tempt me to discuss them with people all over the world.
What could be a greater comliment to a TV-show? 😉
I have read alot of blogs complaining about the sex-scenes, another thing that I don’t understand.
The sex-scenes only show one thing: That the writers truly understand human nature.
Having sex in a situation like “Universe” is so much part of how humans react. They need to FEEL that they are alive, when they know that they can die anytime soon.
It’s a matter of coping with the own mortality, I guess.
” (…) rather than continuing to develop as the realistic, flawed human beings they are at the moment?”
Because realistic, flawed human beings are /boring/ and I see more than enough realistic, flawed human beings in real life.
> “why are some people so offended that these human beings, like most real-life people, enjoy sex and alcohol?”
I don’t know about other people, but I’m not offended by it, I’m just disappointed about the way they chose to put these aspects in the story. Suddenly, out of the blue, there’s people having sex. It feels completely artificial. If you want to explore human sexuality there are some great opportunities in SciFi to do that and they chose not to take advantage of it.
SciFi gives you the possibility to look at certain aspects of humanity from a unique perspective. You can e.g. contrast sex with some kind of alien species’ version of it to show how weird and wonderful the human variety is.
To me, SGU is extremely boring, they turned a good SciFi series into a drama.
Oh, and another thing: if you wanted to make a series like this: why did you do it as part of the Stargate franchise ? If I walk into a McDonalds, I expect to be able to order a Big Mac. If you want to start a fancy restaurant, fine, but don’t call it McDonalds. If I watch Stargate I expect action heroes in a sci fi setting, not a soap opera. You’re both killing your new series (People who want fine dining won’t walk into a McDonalds) and the old franchise (People who want a Big Mac are disappointed and confused, they no longer can trust the brand to deliver).
@cicero
I don’t think people want two-dimensional characters. There was plenty of background stroy in SG-1. For example Jack O’Niell wasn’t 2d at all. His son shot himself, there were times when he visited his ex-wife etc. Enough drama. But they also had a storyline around the gate, discoveries, the ancients and how they influenced the galaxies, which SGU has not. Maybe they have something in stock for later. But after half a season there should be something revield or else the pace is just to slow to stay interested. Essentially, they had to evacuate the Ikarus-base. They got to the Destiny and that’s it. After 9 episodes… (All of this has been shown in the first episode btw.)
“why are some people so offended that these human beings, like most real-life people, enjoy sex and alcohol?”
I don’t really mind the sex or alcohol per se. But the way some parts of it are shown are somewhat disturbing. If you have sex in a forign body without the approval of it’s original host, his body is used for sex without his consent. This could be considered to be rape. I guess Telford didn’t mind, but the problem still is there. Calling this normal human behaviour seams out of place. Do you really think that normal human beeings would act the way it is shown in SGU? I hope not. There is way to much immaturity amog the crew. I find the behaviour generally irrational and irresponsible but not realistic at all. I give people more credit then that. They may be meant to be the wrong people for the mission but it’s not realistic to have them behave that way. Frankly, I am somewhat shoked, that people argue SGU is better because the human nature is realistic. Besides, it’s not realistic that the only means of communication is used that casually. Rather there would be some strict protocol and no common visits. I would hope the main goal would be to bring in specialists in order to help the SGU-crew. Not to bring them back on Earth for “humping” and drinking. If you want to make a drama, sure you can do better than who sleeps with whom. Especially in science fiction.
I am not sure what you mean with complexity. I don’t really see one in SGU. Is there really a difference in the episodes where they went to the sand planet and when they went to the ice planet? They have to pick something up. It is not near the gate. Along the way some drama happens. When they are back on board the Destiny, they have picked up something which they better not had on board. This kind of redundancy never happend in SG-1 or SGA. Certainly not within such a short period of time. Nothing complex at all. To the contrary, rather booring. Or were you refering to “human complexity” (deeper characters)? I don’t precieve them as deeper than any character in either SG-1 or SGA.
I guess the most objection to this comes from long time stargate fans. If not that, they are probabely just prude 🙂 Stargate used to be quite the opposite. The emphasis was on storytelling rather then relationship problems. It seams the storyline has been completely sacrificed for some relationship drama. It’s just sad. If you are a fan of someting and it gets turned into the opposite of what it was, would you still like it? I would have to say no. But I am sure there are people who see things differently 🙂 I love stories but there has to be one. I have no interest in seeing people aimlessly fooling around. None the less, I hope I could give you some more insights.
@josephmallozzi
It’s come as quite a surprise to me, but SGU has become my favorite show to watch at the moment. Favorite meaning the one I look forward to the most to find out what happened.
My wife and I watch quite a few other shows and we enjoy them, but SGU has become something special to me.
I was never a SG fan per say…I enjoy scifi, but when the show 1st aired I didn’t “get it” and felt it was too cheesy and thought that I liked more serious scifi. In hindsight I now know my first impression was wrong. Or maybe I’ve mellowed over the years lol (43 btw)
Kind of felt the same way about Atlantis and only caught bits and pieces of episodes here and there. (have since corrected my opinion of that work as well)
So when SGU came out I was truly excited. This seemed like the perfect show. It looked more “professional?”. more serious and realistic to me, if that makes sense to anyone.
But I have to say, the way the first couple of episodes were executed…it seemed a bit slow even for an old man like me lol
BUT…after sticking with the show and getting a better feel for the characters and storyline and the “way” this series I believe is intended to be (not a action fest shoot’em up self contained away trip) I have to say it’s becoming more and more satisfying.
I can see from the initial forum threads I saw just now that there is apparently a lot of view points across the board, which is fine…a show will never please everyone to the same degree.
All I can say is that I’m happy I stuck with it, I LIKE the more indepth characters and episodes that revolve around their personalities and perceptions and how they are dealing with being on the ship. I love the the vastly mixed up jumble of characters…makes room for a lot of stories to be had and experimented with.
As far as some of the chances the writes and dir’s have decided to take in recent episodes…I’m glad that when they decide to go down that road it seems like it will be done with taste and grace and real heart and emotion. I’m commend them on taking those chances…not that that’s what I believe SGU should ultimately be. SGU imo should be true to itself first, it’s not a stepping stone or podium for any cause or way of life. It’s a STORY about a group of vastly different people trapped together, who MUST find a way to get along, to live and ultimately survive.
And have some adventure and fun along the way! 😉
And in that regard I personally feel that the writers and directors and cast have done a fabulous job so far…I haven’t looked forward to a show with this much interest and enthusiasm in a long time!
Keep up the good work, and I’ll keep watching and sharing my enjoyment with the show to all my friends and association that will listen lol
Thanks for all you do and Thanks for taking a chance with SGU!!! I think/hope people will come around and “get it” and support the show and it’s unique style and direction. We don’t need another copy of SG1 imo, I have those on dvd…right now I’m enjoying something different and special.
Warm Regards & Have FUN in Tokyo!
I lived in Tokyo 10 years ago (Meguro) and loved it. I miss all the hustle and bustle and yes, even the super crowded streets.
http://www.japansugoi.com/wordpress/a-video-trip-around-tokyo/